Time Cannot Erase
by Jessica R Vance
Summary: How will an aged Demeter cope with the loss of a loved one? (Depressing and/or stupid alert)


TIME CANNOT ERASE  
  
By: S J Hartsfield  
  
Rating: G  
  
Summary: How can someone cope with the loss of a loved one?  
  
Disclaimer: Don't own Evanescence or CATS.  
  
---  
  
Time Cannot Erase  
  
"These wounds won't seem to heal,  
This pain is just too real,  
There's just too much that time cannot erase.  
When you cried I'd wipe away all of your tears.  
When you screamed I'd fight away all your fears.  
And I held your hand through all of these years,  
But you still held on..."  
  
~ Evanescence, "My Immortal"  
  
---  
  
After he died, she moped around the house for months. She wouldn't eat, she couldn't sleep, she became thin and sickly. Her humans scratched their heads and marveled. "Why doesn't she just find another mate?" they wondered, "It's not as though cats mate for life."  
  
Demeter tried to ignore them. Only the girl understood - the family's teenage daughter held her in her lap and stroked her head gently. "I know you miss him," she'd whisper, when the rest of the family wasn't listening. They'd have though she was mad if they'd found her talking to the cat. "You'll never be the same." She'd sigh. "They just don't get it. Cats may not mate for life, but they can love." Demeter would give a soft meow to show the girl that she appreciated her efforts. Though she could give Demeter, sympathy and comfort, there was something she couldn't do.  
  
She couldn't bring Munkustrap back.  
  
"Thank Heaviside I'm old," Demeter would think to herself every day. "Maybe I'll only live a few days more... then I can be with him again."  
  
Things had changed so much. Demeter and Munkustrap had been blessed with beautiful kittens - and grandkittens. Their eldest son Nikkochin was Jellicle protector, though with the death of Munkustrap he would soon be moving up to Jellicle leader. Demeter's grandson Amani would become the new protector - and after that...  
  
Demeter couldn't think that far ahead. It was painful enough to think of each day to the next without Munkustrap. Each morning she would wake up, expecting to see him, to be with him. Then she would remember, and a sharp pain found its way to her heart. The girl understood her plaintive mews and stroked her gently. But it couldn't take the pain away.  
  
When Demeter dreamed, she saw herself young, full of life, and with Munkustrap. Tears leaked down her cheeks and she would wake, her pillow soaked. In sleep the tears came from joy, but upon waking they transformed to tears of pain. It was unnatural to cry out in her sleep and feel the absense of Munkustrap's deep, soothing voice comforting her. She shivered and burrowed into her bed, and felt frightened for the first time in years.  
  
With Munkustrap gone, Demeter had no one but her children. Her sister Bombalurina and closest friends Cassandra and Jellylorum had both passed a few years earlier. Alonzo and Tugger had been inconsolable until their own deaths. Demeter could only pray for the day when she would experience that kind of peace.  
  
Then one day... she would.  
  
The girl was holding her gently, somehow knowing that her time was coming. Tears smarted in her eyes as she whispered, "We're gonna miss you." Demeter was tired. She couldn't focus on the girl, couldn't hear what she was saying. She tried to shake her head, to let her know she didn't understand.  
  
"Demi..."  
  
Demeter blurrily tried to focus on the source of the sound. "Munkustrap?" she whispered, a lump in her throat. She couldn't see him, but she could hear him. He was coming toward her. What was happening? "Munku, where are you?" A hand caught hers gently. A brilliant smile. Munkustrap.  
  
"It's time, Demi... come with me."  
  
Demeter smiled for what seemed like the first time in forever. "Yes," she whispered. As the light grew brighter, Munkustrap seemed enveloped in it. An angel, she thought drowsily, smiling. She held his hand and was swept away with her love. She would be happy again; they would dance in the sky.  
  
Together forever.  
  
~Fin~ 


End file.
